Category: Quilt Events

I can’t believe it’s already time to get packed and ready for QuiltCon which is happening next week! It’s been a whirlwind of a year for our family so far – moving into a new home and getting ready for our younger son leave for his mission to China this week. The older one will be moving back home for awhile to work for us, and we are sooo glad we got the bigger house with an extra room! During all the chaos, we were even able to sneak in a last minute Disney vacation over the weekend. It was a great way to celebrate all the changes happening this year!

Disneyland is truly our happy place!! Although it was a chilly weekend, I kept nice and toasty warm with my MQG Hoodie I got at last year’s QuiltCon!

But now, it’s time to transition back into quilting mode big time!! And I’m so excited to do that with my first teaching event of the year! If you are planning on attending QuiltCon but didn’t make it into my sold-out workshops, I have great news for you: there’s still room in my lecture, plus I’ll be doing several free events on the flow show all weekend long. So be sure to come up and say hi – I’d love to chat with you!

So far I have attended every QuiltCon since the event began in 2013. This will be my third time teaching there and it’s my favorite show of the year! I always get inspired when I go and I love learning more about the modern quilting aesthetic. Plus, it’s super fun to meet up with friends, many of which I’ve met because of my involvement with QuiltCon!

I’m excited to hang out in my pal Sarah J’s booth next week. She’ll have many of my fabrics, patterns and of course my books! Stop by to say hi and I’ll be happy to sign anything you like… (a book, a pattern, your arm, a blank check… just kidding!!)

What a fun week this is going to be! I have blog posts going up later this week about QuiltCon and the Blooming Wallflowers quilt along and I can’t wait. To top it off, Benartex is hosting a blog hop for Abstract Garden all week over on their blog at Sew in Love with Fabric. You’ll be able to see fabulous projects made by the amazing lineup of makers below. Plus, each one will be giving away a fat quarter bundle, so there’s tons of chances to win, whoo hoo!!

Blog Hop Participants and Schedule

Click each of the links below to visit the blog and bookmark it for later in the week when they’ll be sharing. It’s going to be Sew. Much. Fun!!

I love this time of year. Not only for the holidays, but also to see what quilts everyone has entered for next year’s QuiltCon show. So far, I’ve been to every show since it began in 2013 and I’ve also had at least one quilt accepted for each show which is always fun to see. I just received word that one of three of my entries got in this year and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Blooming Wallflowers Accepted

It’s really special to me that this quilt was accepted, because I had originally made a slightly different version (shown below) for a magazine (using my first line, Modern Marks). I entered the first version into the show last year and it was rejected then. I know that the jury changes from year to year and the group of quilts to choose from is always different, so that just goes to show that it’s always worth trying again if you think you have a really great design.

Earlier Version – Made from Modern Marks

This version was a “reject” for QuiltCon 2018

Out of the Box Declined

This quilt was such fun to make and I’ll for sure be entering it into other shows. One thing I’ve learned is that my commercial quilt designs I make for patterns and books tend to be a little more on the more “modern traditionalism” side of things which usually has a ton of entries, so I’m never disappointed when one of them doesn’t make the cut. I’ve actually designed a super-modern version of this quilt with much more negative space that I may try to make and enter for next year, so we’ll see what happens!

This quilt was originally made for a magazine to showcase Fandangle Fat Quarters.I plan to remake it in an upcoming fabric line and re-release the pattern, so stay tuned!

Beaded Lanterns Declined

This one didn’t surprise me at all because all though it’s a dynamic design, it’s still very traditional in the layout and setting. But I still love it since it was easy to pattern and teach. This is the first year that I didn’t have time to make a quilt specifically for the show, but I’m still glad I entered. It’s always fun to be part of the process!!

A Plea for Kindness

Before you leave comments online saying “I can’t believe so and so’s quilt didn’t get in” or “what were those jurors thinking, they are crazy!” or anything of that nature, please remember to be kind.

I know that emotions tend to run a little high when everyone gets their notices that their quilts weren’t accepted. However, I always remind myself, it’s just simple math. There were 1750 quilts entered this year, and the show usually only had room for 400. So that means that less than 1 in 4 will get in on average. In other words, 75% of the quilts entered will not make it into the show. But that doesn’t make them “rejects.” I’m sure that if QuiltCon had the room, they’d take as many quilts as they could.

I enter a lot of national shows, most of which are much larger than QuiltCon in terms of numbers of quilts on display. However, they don’t get nearly the amount of entries as QuiltCon does and I never hear negative comments about quilts that don’t make it in. I think it’s because QuiltCon and the MQG have such a large internet presence and we all know how easy it is to make an off-handed comment online. My one request would be to keep things as positive as you can, even if you didn’t get in. I know that the folks working behind the scenes put in untold numbers of hours to make a great show and I’m so thankful for the hard work they do!

In fact, if you’d like to treat yourself to a really inspiring “virtual” quilt show online, be sure to check out the hashtag “quiltconreject” on instagram. It’s a visual feast for sure!

Other Quilt Show Venues

And if you are thinking about entering your quilt into a large national show, here’s a few more that I’d highly recommend:

If you are heading out to quilt market, the industry trade show in Houston, Texas, be sure to come find me and say hi! I’ll be hanging out in my booth #2134 in the Benartex Contempo area most of the time, and I’ll be sharing some fun presentations with goodies to give away!

If you plan to attend schoolhouse – educational seminars on Friday before the show, make plans to attend mine at 5:30 on November 2 room 342A. Everyone who comes will get a free sample pack of my new Abstract Garden collection plus one of my patterns.

My presentation is called “Kitting for Profitability” and it’s geared towards quilt shops who want to create kits from my patterns. I’ll be discussing the 4 P’s of profitability: Pattern, Product, Promotion, and Pricing.

The show floor is open Saturday-Monday and Benartex will be presenting four designer showcases on Saturday and Sunday. The 7 designers in attendance will each present a trunk show of our latest and greatest and of course there will be goodies galore!

Quilt market is super fun now that I’m a fabric designer and Benartex really knows how to take care of their designers. They have a design team that gets there the day before, builds all of the booths and then decorates them for us once we arrive with our newly sewn samples. That makes one less thing for me to worry about so I can focus on being present and engaging for any quilt shops who want to stop by and see all the fun new things!

Fluevogs are my favorite shoes of all time – and yes, they are super comfy!!

Speaking of fun things… I gathered up some of my favorite Abstract Garden prints along with my favorite coordinating shoes and whipped up 4 cute aprons to wear – one for each day of the show. To see the big reveal, be sure to follow me on Instagram @christaquilts where I’ll share pictures and videos all weekend long. It will be exhausting – but fun!

If you can’t attend, be sure to tell your favorite local quilt shop to stop by and see me, and if you want to catch all the fun from home, be sure to follow the hashtag #quiltmarket for the hundreds (thousands?) of pics that will be shared this week!

I’ll be back with a wrap-up of the show when I return next week! Happy quilting until then!!

I have to tell you how blown away I was with all of the entries into the Fandangle EQ design contest last month. EQ limited it to one entry per person which was probably a good thing, or we never would have been able to make a decision, LOL! EQ picked their favorite, I picked my favorite, and together we picked a joint favorite. So without further ado, congratulations to the winners below:

Overall Winner – Betsy’s Pinball

This quilt really spoke to me with it’s asymmetrical modern style. It’s really eye catching and I love how she took a traditional block – the Drunkard’s Path and created such a unique, fresh design!

MY Honorable Mention: Mel Beach Slice & Insert

Mel’s design absolutely blew me away! I love how she incorporated some of the design motifs from the fabric into her unique and original quilt design. Check out the blog post she wrote about her process and several other design ideas. Each improv-looking blocks is actually an abstract pieced “F” (for Fandangle). How cool is that??

EQ Honorable Mention: Janet Barker Cut the Deck

Here’s what Janet had to say about her fabulous entry: “My Cut the Deck quilt design uses a range of dark and light fabrics in the same color family. The teals with lime green accents fit the bill perfectly. The quilt uses easy strip piecing with sub-cuts to make up the blocks.”

Other Favorites

I have to give a shout out to a couple of other designs that really made my heart sing. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved ALL of the entries and it was so so hard to choose! We have some amazing talent out there in the quilting world and I was impressed by all of the original designs. I hope that several of the entrants decide to turn their designs into quilt patterns because they are all so good!

Willow Olson – Oh My Stars

Diane – Lisbonesque-like

Pat A – Untitled

Terri Nice – All that Glitters

Darlene Cunningham – All The Ins & Outs

See The Rest of the Amazing Entries!

There were a total of 96 entries and they were all so fabulous! The ones I just showcased above are just a drop in the bucket of all the incredible designs that were shared.Do you know how hard it was for us to choose the winners?? The rest of them are still up on the EQ site so you can enjoy an amazing virtual trunk show. Be sure to read the comments for more about each entry.

Three winners will each win the fabric they need to make the quilt! Complete details along with the link to download the Fandangle fabric swatches are over on the EQ blog today, so check it out! The contest will run through the end of the month.

I personally love using EQ8 to design all of my quilts because I usually have to design and write all of my quilt patterns for any new fabric collection months before I get the fabric. EQ makes it easy for me to see exactly how my finished quilt will look before I even make the first cut!

If you are on instagram, be sure to also share your designs using the hashtags #fandanglefabric and #eq8. I can’t wait to see what you create!

This week on the Creative Spaces blog hop, we are discussing organization. This is one of those topics where I realize that sometimes my perfection stands in the way of me being as organized as I should. I can be an all-or-nothing type person: if I can’t organize every last bit, I’ll let everything fall into disarray, LOL!! You can see that here in my “before” pic about my sewing room cleanup!

For my stop this week, I thought it would be fun to share my wish list for the things I want to get to help me be more organized in my sewing room. The last time I did a major renovation of my creative space was back in 2013 and it’s high-time for another one!

They recently built an Ikea here in Las Vegas and the sad thing is I haven’t been yet. In fact I’ve NEVER even stepped foot in one, but I’m planning and scheming and making a shopping list of things I want to get to make my sewing room a little more organized.

First up is this set of drawers. I think it will fit nicely in the space underneath my sewing table.
In the older picture below (which was before I got my new fancy sewing machine), there’s a spot under the table to my left where I think these drawers would fit perfectly.

When I first got my sewing desk way back in 1999 or 2000 it came with an option to add a set of drawers there. The biggest regret I have is not making that purchase back then. I don’t even remember the brand of table it is and sadly, the shop I bought it from is long gone.

Next up, I’ve been checking out Pinterest and Google for ideas on making a customized cutting table. The basic idea is to get 2-3 shelving units with wheels and put them together, then add a piece of wood on top. I need it to be mobile because it would go in the center of my space and I’d need to move it out of the way when we do photography.

Here’s one possible shelving unit above that would work. This will definitely take more time and research, but just like any large project, that’s part of the fun, right?

Finally, the biggest purchase I’ll need to make is some larger shelving units that can fit end to end along one wall of my room. I’ve been getting recommendations that lots of folks really like the Billy Bookcases from Ikea, and this image from their site has piqued my interest:

So those are the 3 major things I want to purchase for my sewing room to make it more organized and usable. I’m in the very early stages of planning and I know it will take time and money to make this happen, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted on how it’s going!

Be sure to check out all of the other stops on the hop for additional ideas on how you can organize your own creative space!

Quick announcement! I just found out that you can get free tickets to be part of The Quilt Show studio audience with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. I’m going to be a guest on an upcoming show and I’ll be taping my segments on August 26th in Denver, Colorado.

The episode won’t appear until months later, but what a fun opportunity if you are in the area. And there may just be fun goodies and giveaways for audience members!

Don’t worry – if for some reason you can’t make it, keep an eye on The Quilt Show Daily Blog for announcements of future tapings. Now I’ve got to start making my demo samples and preparing for the show!

Are you enjoying the Creative Spaces blog hop so far? I know I am! Scroll to the end for a list of all the stops on the hop and get motivated to organized your creative space! This week, 16 of us are sharing our favorite tools. It’s fun to see the ones we all love as well as picking up ideas for new things to try!

For my post, I thought I’d do a roundup of some previous blog posts when I shared about some of my favorite notions and tools. I did a series of “favorite tools” several years ago and it is surprising to see how many of them are still at the top of my list. Click the link below each image to read more about why it’s (still) my favorite:

My Favorite Tools for Quilting

(The link above is from 5 years ago when I got my first 7 series machine!! Little did I know then that it would lead to my national teaching career and becoming an ambassador. It’s a fun walk down memory lane….)

Welcome to Week 1 of the creative spaces blog hop! Scroll to the end for links to everyone who has posted about their spaces this week – I’m sure you’ll love it, be inspired, and hopefully, feel good about your own creative space!

This week, we are blogging about our sewing spaces, and sharing before and after pics.

I like to keep a tidy room, but whenever I travel, things can become a hot mess. I’m usually trying to finish up some deadline at the same time and my sewing space can often look like this:

I have a big space in our upstairs loft area. There’s a big table in the middle where I do most of my computer work, cutting and organizing of projects. It tends to attract all the mess when I’m in a hurry to leave on a big trip.

When my studio is tidy and clean and I’m able to efficiently use every space, it looks more like the image below (taken a couple of years ago for a feature on someone else’s blog):

I’ve got a quilt under the machine on the back wall with another quilt top on two tables in the middle of the room. My design wall on the right is big enough to hang a large quilt top. It now doubles as my basting area and my photography studio.

I can fit a full size ironing board with a big board on top, and there’s a desk where my daughter can also sew if she’s interested. You can barely see the couch peeking behind the railing where I like to drape a couple of quilts in progress.

Probably my favorite thing in my sewing room is the design wall because I use it all the time. Whenever I’m working on a new quilt, or even a new fabric line I’ll hang up whatever I’m looking at and step away, to see what it looks like at different angles.

It also servers as my photography studio to take flat shots for pattern covers. We (meaning Jason) build the design wall back in 2013 the last time I did a major studio renovation. You can read about our process here.

I’m lucky to have a large space with enough room to put everything away when I clean up.

My least favorite thing in my sewing space is the hand-me-down wooden entertainment center. It doesn’t match anything in the room, but it was free and fits the space well. It also holds a ton of stuff, including our big ugly office printers (one for black and white printing & labels – the other for color printing.)

One of my goals during this six week blog hop is to replace that ugly brown monstrosity with something nicer from Ikea. We recently got one in our town, and it’s sad that I haven’t even been there yet! But I’m hoping I can assemble a series of smaller units and bookcases (in white) that will make the space look a whole lot nicer! I’d also like to replace my plastic work table with a taller table on wheels that I can use for cutting.

I’m definitely in my happy place when I can quilt in a clean, organized room. My sewing machine is against a wall with a window so that I have lots of natural light steaming through while I quilt during the day. My favorite thing to do is listen to a podcast or audio book while I quilt. It relaxes me and I can get into a good flow while I work.

Other Stops on the Hop

Be sure and visit these other stops on the Creative Spaces Blog hop and see how my quilty friends deal with taming their creative spaces: